My pick for Racers of the Week are Boyd and Sue Wylie, from Langley, British Columbia. Boyd and Sue are longtime DragListers, members of the Super Crew, and are two of our favorite people! Boyd is a lifelong hot rodder, and his altereds and street rod are excellent examples of automotive artistry. I'm proud to call Boyd Wylie my brother.

Over the last week or so, I've chatted with Boyd about his projects and he has provided me with a lot of great information and stories pertaining to his drag racing and street cars.

The first Altered he built was a '32 Bantam all-steel rumbleseat roadster. Boyd started on it as soon as he got a job after graduating from high school. Thinking back, he's surprised at all the work he did with such few tools. A Hack saw, files and a belt drive bench grinder. Wrenches, of course. He would make a wood jig, fit the parts, then take them to get welded. The engine was a 324 cubic inch Olds, which he bought out of a dragster. The owner had switched to a Chevy engine. The transmission was a B&M 4 speed automatic. It had Hilborn Fuel Injection. Boyd doesn’t remember ET’s or MPH. He told me his best ET was in the low 11’s. The C/ Altered record was a 10.8-ish. The name "Heaven Sent" came from the Beatles song "Lady Madonna“ "Did you think that money was heaven sent?” Boyd's Dad had used those words to him, as he was spending almost all of his wages on the car. It was ready to race part-way into the 1967 season.

The Novel T Altered seems to have been built around 1968-70. It had a Chrome Moly Chassis, with a '23 T fibreglass body. It was a complete car when Boyd's co-owner Dave Webb found out about it and they bought it in 1991. It needed many updates; In particular, the Roll Cage. It hadn’t seen a race track in many years. Ther racing focus was on Nostalgia Racing, but they also ran Super Pro Brackets. The engine was a 468" Big-Block Chevy. It had a Manual shift Power Glide running to a '59 Olds rear end. Sitting on top was a single Holley Carb on gasoline. Buying and scrounging used parts from other racing, they had it ready to race in 1992. When it went straight, which was almost never, it ran a best of 9.44. It mostly ran in the 9.50 to 9.56 range. The best MPH was 144 but mostly it went 134-138. Boyd and Dave raced it for 10 years. It was a wild, exciting time with that car. Boyd and Sue's niece Jennifer crewed with them at almost every race, from her early teens through to when they stopped. She at times would assist on other teams as well. The Novel T even had Fans! They often would ask a youngster to crew with them. They’re still friends with some of these kids who are now Adults. Something Boyd remembers about Novel T: As he mentioned, kids liked to come visit them at the races. As Boyd and Dave got to know them, they’d invite them to ride in the tow Van when they were called to the lanes. This at times got out of control. Sometimes they’d have 6 or so piled in the back. The main reason the kids piled in was so they could be in the van on the service road to watch the Novel T run!The year 2000 didn’t go well. They had an almost total engine failure, Susan had lost her job the previous December. Co-owner Dave was away with work a lot. They did get it all back together, but their interest had faded a bit. Plus Boyd had retired by then. It was the old story that the money wasn’t there to race at that level anymore. They still owned the car until about 2010, but by then health issues had shown up. They had hoped to sell it turnkey, but it’s been parted out.

The Mid-Life Crisis, a '52 Chevy stovebolt truck street rod...A typical build from the 1980’s. When Boyd and Sue got the MLC, it had a stock frame with a subframe from a Camaro and a 350 engine that was quite worn out. There were lots of additives to help it along. A 350 transmission, and a 10 bolt 1974 Nova rear end. This was a barn-find. It had been sitting not running in a Lean-to garage for several years. The interesting thing about the truck, the Original Builder was a teenager. It started as a High School project with which he won a Scholarship. It had been badly neglected between the time he built it and Boyd and Susan got it. Susan and Boyd decided they liked the "shabby" look, so other than some metal repair, they drive it as it was found. Boyd's racing roots took over when it was time to replace the engine. He wanted lots of horsepower, but he made a compromise with an engine builder. It’s about 360 HP. The Wylies love this truck. They’ve driven it from where they live outside of Vancouver to Reno Nevada, Alberta, Canada a few times, and local shows with a Classic Truck Club they joined. Several changes have been done but few have changed the appearance, and I'm proud to say that to this day, folks are falling in love with this beautiful purple old truck. Great job, Boyd and Sue!

Boyd and Sue Wylie, we wish you good luck, safe cruising and the best of times in the future!

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Last edited by WildcatOne on Tue Jul 31, 2018 5:42 pm, edited 1 time in total.

my pick for Racer of the Week is Colin Millar, from Kinross, Scotland. Colin was recommended to me by our friend and former Racer of the Week, Mick Taylor. Thanks, Mick!
Colin is the pilot of the Flyin' Fyfer, a '48 Anglia Outlaw Gasser. He is one of the most colorful and popular Drag Racers in the UK, and over the last few weeks he's sent me some great information.
Colin started going to Santa Pod in 1984. He and his buddies used to race each other down the road from Scotland 400 miles, race all weekend and then race each other back home for another 400 miles. Eventually 8 years ago, he gave in and went full out race; thats when the Flyin' Fyfer was born. Colin's oldest boy know runs the Flyin' Scotsman, which has the race number 4472, the same number as the famous steam engine. They have a great shop but They do everything themselves as there ain't a lot of drag racers in Sunny Scotland!!!
In the Outlaw Anglia class, there are only good guys, they all have such a blast and enjoy the class so much with no politics, no back stabbing, just good old heads up racing with very competitive souls but great friends off track. A handful of the group headed out to France a few weekends ago with Mick Taylor, Ronnie Mercer, Scotty Crookston, Garry Hill and Rob Stone, then they all headed back over to Santa Pod the following weekend for the Summer Nationals. It's been a great summer!!!
Prior to Colin's new engine, the numbers were 7.58 at 179 mph for the quarter mile with a 560" BBC, 2-speed Powerglide and a Mark Williams rear end running 4.11 gears, with an unlimited chassis so there is no restriction on times, the 101" wheelbase makes it real interesting but now he's just fitted a brand new 632" Top Sportsman Nitrous motor from Shafiroff with a possible 1900 HP output Before, he hadn't run any nitrous but the car ran 8.90 @ 154 mph and the new set up rran 8.00 @ 172 mph, bring on the laughing gas woo oho!
Colin told me there are quite a few hot rodders who have some awsome cars in Scotland, quietly working away in the back ground, such as a twin turbo SS Camaro, a '52 Willys with a 602" Mopar, a 1936 Forde Model Y with a supercharged and nitrous 302 running low 9's and a lot of other cars being built at the moment and load of Street Rods.
Anyway, France was an opportunity not to let it pass them by. Colin put a note up on their Outlaw Anglia page and they had six Outlaw Anglias who made th trip. They just ran in RWYB so that they could all run together and have a laugh and they certainly did. the French organisers were fantastic and the track, albeit a bit narrow was great and sticky. Out of the 6 cars that went, out 4 came back with new personal bests. Colin ran his first ever 7.999 on the motor and he said they will certainly be back to Clastres, France, it is only a two hour drive from Calias where you get off the ferry.
Dragstalgia at the Pod is becoming one of the best events of the year. It attracts a huge amount of cars where you only ever see them once a year at this event. With a 15 car field the Outlaw Anglias as always put on a great show for the spectators with a few, lets say, "very exciting" runs and some good solid fast passes. In the end the final was between Scotty Crookston and Colin in an all Scottish final. The young one tried his very best but in the end it was Colin who took the win. One week later and they were back at Santa Pod, this time for the Bug Jam and it was the same result again with Scotty and Colin back into the final, points are mounting up with Scotty Crookston in 3rd Jedd Guy in 2nd and Colin at the moment leading.
The new Outlaw Anglia ET record has stood with Paul (the Guv) Wright for 11 years where he ran a 7.400 at 190 mph, which is some doing for back then. Colin and his team had the car settled with the new 632" Top Sportsman Nitrous motor and they were very happy running 8.0 just on the motor and with a very light tune of a 200HP shot, he expected the car to run maybe a 7.70, well he turned the launch up to 5200 rpms and hit the gas right off the trans brake. The car loved it and ran a 1.11 60-foot, went straight and never moved an inch out of the groove; it was so smooth he actually thought maybe a 7.80 as it did not feel that fast but in the end it ran a 7.37 at 184.37, WOW, what was also great is he backed it up in the final with a 7.41. He said lets see how long I can hold onto this for as Scotty Crookston is now down to low 7.7's, all in all were well chuffed in the Flyin' Fyfer camp with the new record.
Colin, we are rooting for you and we wish you good luck, safe racing and the best of times in the future!

My pick for Racers of the Week are Jerry and Jeanne Fryar, from Alvin, Texas. Jerry's '31 Model A Coupe is a home-built marvel of high performance married to street-legal cruising.

Jerry is a charter member of the Phantoms Klassic Kruisers, of which I was a member for the 6 years I had my VW: "George...The Beetle". He's a great guy who is a master hot rod builder and all-around fine gentleman, and I'm proud to feature him tonight. Today I did an interview with him over the phone and he gave me the goods on his hot rod.

He's had the car for 19 years. It's been completely redone from when he first got it, and with the 434" small-block Chevy with 2 Holley 650s and a host of internal speed equipment, he drives the car to the drag strip and runs low 9.80s at just below 150 mph in the quarter mile with it, then drives it back home.

When Jerry first got the car, it had a 99" wheelbase and it was a handful on the track. He said it went every way but straight, so he put together a 104" chrome moly chassis and added a 4-link and coil-overs and he said now it runs like it was shot out of a cannon with no wiggles or wobbles at all. The wheelie bars have also helped keep it from flipping over at launch.

The car weighs 1900 lbs with Jerry in it. He has driven it to Dallas, Louisiana and all around the Houston area as a street-legal classic car. I've seen him drive it up to some gigs I've played with Pee Wee, and you know when Jerry is there. The ground shakes when he pulls up. It's a durable, long-distance runner that can beat just about anything that comes up against it if somebody wants to choose him. It will be their loss.

One thing he mentioned to me is that the engine was built not to run on pump gas. A lot of stuff you get nowadays has ethanol in it and Jerry found after milling out his carbs is that ethanol tends to clog his fuel lines. He runs racing fuel in the engine at all times. He pays high dollar for it, but he buys the fuel in 55-gallon drums every so often and he has no problems at all making great horsepower with the way the engine is tuned and the engine runs clean and strong.

He told me he plans to change up the engine. He said he's going to install an 8-71 blower with 2 carbs and add some more horsepower to his resume. I can't wait to see that!

It's always great when Jerry and Jeanne show up with this fine hot rod. They love the Pee Wee Bowen Band, and it was a privilege for me to be a member of the Phantom Kruisers. These are some of the best people I've ever met. Hot Rodders, Drag Racers, Musicians, Artists, Dancers, Athletes, Cowboys, it's a good mix of people here.

Jerry and Jeanne Fryar, we wish you good luck, safe racing and the best of times in the future!

My pick for Racer of the Week is Andy Fadster, from England. Andy is the owner, tuner and pilot of the Twister, a 1923 Model T pickup Outlaw Altered. This hot rod is road-legal in the UK, but at this time he's got it set up to race.

Andy is the chairman of the 18-car group called Supercharged Outlaws UK. When we were chatting about his feature he told me that a bit of recognition for what they do is great...after all, they don’t get paid. This group of drag racers run their cars unsponsored. They are doing it for love. Andy told me that there are generally 12 cars at a meeting.

He said they have some real old sea dogs in their group; people who have been racing for 20-30 years just for the fun of it and to thrill the fans. All of them are family people and their families join us at all the events. Andy's daughter, who is 12 years old, will be taking over the driving duties from him in another 5 years and he told me he's looking forward to being her crew chief. She's grown up at the track with him.

The Twister has changed a lot over the years, but it's essentially the same car that Andy goton good old eBay 15 years ago after having a bottle of red wine! It's the only car he has ever raced up the strip.

The Twister's Engine is a Blown alky big block Chevy. It has all forged internals and an expensive Crower crank. He's running 20 psi of boost they are still breaking it in.

Andy ran gas and nitrous in it up until last year with a personal best of 7.78 ET at 178 mph. His personal best now stands at 7.70 at 179 but he said they are steadily creeping up on it. He's expecting to see a 7.30 at around 185 before the season ends.

The Supercharged Outlaws are having a race only season this year, so Andy doesn't have to mess around getting it street ready. They have just put a new tuneup in it and a freshen up. He thinks it should be good for around 25 lbs of boost which should give him around 2000 hp. He's aiming for a low 7, maybe a high 6 if he can keep it straight !!!!

The Supercharged Outlaws UK have a main Facebook page and a discussion forum which is a closed group.

I'm a proud member of this group, and I'd like to point out that when Andy contacted me, he had other racers in mind to be featured, not himself. He's the first one to recognize his friends and it's this selfless spirit of friendship and camaraderie that makes groups like this special to know, but not uncommon in the worldwide family of drag racers. Andy's feature got over 200 Likes, almost 20 shares and a whole book's worth of comments. Great going, guys, and I look forward to hearing about your personal bests, and featuring more of the Supercharged Outlaws UK.

Andy, we wish you good luck, safe racing and the best of times in the future!

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My pick for Racer of the Week is Donovan Stott, from Mill Spring, North Carolina. Donovan is a racer in the Southeast Gassers Association, and his '48 Anglia Gasser called "White Trash" is a period-correct, stick-shifted drag racing marvel. I've followed this group of dedicated old-school racers for a couple of years now, and I can see more Racers to feature in the future. They're a tight-knit, close group of friends who share the same passion for our sport, and with Donovan being a member of one of Drag Racing's most well-known and respected families, it's an honor to feature him tonight. I copied Donovan's bio from the Southeast Gassers' website and I'll deliver it here word-for word:

My name is Donovan Stott and I am a drag racing addict. When I say that I grew up at the dragstrip what I mean is that I “literally” grew up at the dragstrip! I grew up watching my dad, Mitch Stott from as early as I can remember. Sometime around 1998 he gave me my first ride in his Pro Mod Lumina at Shady Side Dragway. I’ll never forget my first ride down the eight mile, if only I had known then what that would cost me now. There are so many memories I can recall from drag racing. From learning to zero the clutch to being snuck onto the starting line at only 7 years old.

Growing up around racing literally changed my life forever. At age 10 I began racing a JR. Dragster. It only took one race before I became bored with the 50 mph car. Dirt Bikes became my new love. It was the only machine I could ride that would go as fast as my manhood would allow me to. No more holding it wide open and wanting more. I learned an important theory that “whatever power gets you into a situation the same power will get you out of it”, and that a lot of times your brakes can cause more problems than they're worth. I learned to act instinctively instead of over thinking a situation, or better yet, to go with how it feels instead of how you think it seems.

My next big step would be when I received my license to drive. Dad and I went to Columbia and bought my first car a, 1989 GMC Caballero “El Camino” with a not so impressive 305 small block. As we got close to home I decided to have some fun as we turned off the exit. I decided I was going to dog it a little. I stopped at the stop sign and made a hard right with the gas pedal matted to the floor. I was fully expecting one tire to just blow off but the old 305 just gently pulled away. It didn’t even come close, not a chirp, squeal, or even a little smoke. I was back to driving at 65 mph and held back by the lack of power. Luckily we had plans for a hopped up small block 350. As months passed I became the local wild child in this Green El Camino. I began doing single tire smoky digs everywhere I went. I was banned from the school parking lot for several weeks of my senior year for leaving black marks all over the lot.

My buddy Cameron Brown and I use to go to the dragstrip listening to 1960-70s music and talk about how we wished it was the 1960s all over again. We would always talk about running from the police, sliding on dirt roads, meeting up at the local dirt spot, and just the general way of living. Cameron and I would stop by Quain’s shop and fuss about how silly the world is today and how bad we wanted it to be the summer of 1969.
Time went by and one day at lunch Quain hit me with the deal of a lifetime. He said he had an Anglia but it needed a lot of work and if I would do all the labor that I could drive it the rest of the 2013 Gasser season. I gratefully accepted the offer and the start of White Trash began. The 1948 Ford Anglia was a cool car but it needed a lot of little things. I worked long hours after work every night on her, things like moving the engine, mounting a Jerico transmission, moving the seat, fixing the ladder bars, changing things on the rear end, moving the steering wheel over, making the windshield larger, etc. were all tasks that I had to accomplish.

As White Trash became race ready I became more and more nervous. I had no idea what to expect from the angry little car. With only a 92 inch wheelbase, 4 speed transmission, 13 inches in the air and a rookie driver it was gonna be a wild ride to say the least. I was constantly questioning Dad and Quain as to how I could control such a combination of things. They would always give me a common answer of “oh you will know”. This would leave me wondering even more about what I was gonna do to control it.

Test day at Greer came around and I felt like I was trying out for cheerleading or something. I had seen thousands of passes but had never been the one doing the driving. Sitting in the car constantly practicing runs in my mind was fun but now it was time for the real deal. As passes went by their answer of “Oh you will know” became as clear as could be. All my dirt bike experience began converting to four wheels very quickly. You drive with your feelings, not with the windshield. If you get out of the grove you had better not drop the throttle with it pointing the wrong direction. And you damn sure don’t hit the brakes unless you’re done driving and got her in neutral coasting after the finish line.

Drag Racing has yet again become my go to place for letting it all hang out. No more leaning forward wanting it to go faster, no more looking at the scenery as you drive by, it’s just hammer down and pure focus. I love drag racing and the opportunities that it will hopefully allow me to have in life. I push myself to make this life worth the living so and right now living it an eighth mile at a time. I thank EVERYONE who has helped me and I can’t wait to get back out there.

Quain had it previously then it took about 3 months to correct a few things and get it ready to race Paint is by House of Color, it's cheap parts store Flat White paint, done by Gabriel Burrell with special paint work by Charlie Tyre. The interior has nothing special, just some quick white trash sheet metal work spray bombed flat black. The seat is bolted directly to the floor so makes for an un-comfy wait in the staging lanes. The yearof the engine is not clear but it’s a cast iron 327" SBC with aluminum heads. It has dual Holley 660’s on a tunnel ram, 13.5 to 1 compression, and custom tuned headers. It has a home built tube chassis, with a square tube .125 main frame. It's not known who did the alterations. White Trash runs a Jerico 4 speed transmission, Clutch Shifted. The power is sent to a Ford 9 inch rear end with a 4:56 main gear.

Donovan shows up at the track with the car sitting on the deck of his 1947 Chevy Loadmaster tow truck. It's a great setup, and it always gets eveybody's attention, not to mention the incredible eighth-mile blasts that he and the Gassers perform at every event.

Donovan, thanks for being a Racer of the Week. We wish you good luck, safe racing and the best of times in the future!